Ballot SC041: Reformatting the BRs, EVGs, and NCSSRs

Ballot overview

• Ballot SC041, Reformatting the BRs, EVGs, and NCSSRs, proposed three Final Maintenance Guidelines.
• The ballot aimed to align the Baseline Requirements, EV Guidelines, and Network and Certificate System Security Requirements to a common format so final documents could be generated automatically without third-party tooling installed locally.
• It continued work started in SC26 and originally in Ballots 154 and 155.
• The ballot also stated that the Server Certificate Working Group would use the version-controlled documents in GitHub as the authoritative source of requirements if the ballot succeeded.

What the ballot changed

• Baseline Requirements:
  • Resolved formatting issues in Sections 3.2.2.4.18, 3.2.2.4.19, 4.10.1, 6.1.6, and Appendix B.
  • Fixed a reference in Section 9.6.1 from a non-existent Section 11.2 to Section 7.1.4.2.2.
  • Fixed a reference in Section 3.2.2.4.7 from Section 3.3.1 to Section 4.2.1.
  • Corrected audit scheme references in Section 8.4.
• EV Guidelines:
  • Aligned references to other sections to common language and removed variations such as this Section X and similar forms.
  • Avoided ambiguity by making references internal document links that are structurally enforced.
• Network and Certificate System Security Requirements:
  • Aligned structure with the BRs and EVGs by listing Scope and Applicability before Document History and Definitions.
  • Renumbered certain sub-items in Section 2 and Section 4 from Roman numerals to Arabic numerals for consistency and to avoid ambiguity.
• The ballot attached derived PDF and Microsoft Office versions for review, but the ballot text said those documents were informative only and not Ballot Versions.
• The ballot text said that if there were inconsistencies, the balloted text redline would control.
• Version 2 of the ballot added language to address potential conflicts with Ballot SC39v3 and one Markdown lint issue about fenced code blocks.

Conditional Network Security Controls language

• For the Network and Certificate System Security Requirements, the motion used conditional language tied to Ballot SC39v3:
  • If SC39v3 failed to be adopted, the ballot would modify NSR.md using one redline.
  • If SC39v3 succeeded and was adopted, the ballot would modify NSR.md using a different redline.
• The ballot also stated that on successful adoption, the Forum would recognize the Server Certificate Chartered Working Group Git repository as the authoritative and canonical source for the BRs, EVGs, and Network Security Controls.
• Alternative presentation formats such as PDF/A, Office Open XML, or HTML could be used, but the Git repository version would be authoritative in case of inconsistency.

Approval process and outcome

• The ballot procedure listed a discussion period from 2021-02-08 16:00:00 UTC to 2021-02-17 22:30:00 UTC.
• Voting ran from 2021-02-17 22:30:00 UTC to 2021-02-24 22:30:00 UTC.
• The page states that the voting period for Ballot SC41v2 concluded and the ballot has Passed.
• Bylaw requirements were met for Certificate Issuers, Certificate Consumers, and quorum.
• The page states that the ballot then entered the IP Rights Review Period.